Are you pregnant again after having preeclampsia once already in a previous pregnancy? Post your thoughts/concerns here - there are others who share your feelings. This is also the home of our Bedrest Buddies Support group.

I'm 28 weeks, a little further than I got with my son, and everything looks completely normal, which I couldn't be happier about. The fluid is great, my BP is 110/60, and no issues with protein. It's hard to complain about this, but baby girl has fallen from the 82nd percentile around 20 weeks, and the 50th percentile around 24 weeks, to the 33rd percentile now at 28 weeks. My OB is not concerned because it's > 10%, and he reminded me that Daniel's pregnancy was complex in that we saw low fluid and high BP issues in addition to the severe growth restriction (less than 2%) for several weeks.

I wish I had his confidence. I'm just concerned that it's a downward trend. Does anyone have experience with this and made it close to term?

During my second pregnancy, my daughter was at the 50th percentile at 20 weeks and went down, down, down with each subsequent ultrasound. She ended up around the 10th percentile shortly before she was born at 36 weeks due to pre-term labor. My peri was not concerned either, but of course I was. My daughter was born at 4 lb 9 oz and was in the NICU on oxygen for 10 days, but her doctor attributed that to the fact that we live at a high altitude. She is a perfectly healthy 2 year old now, but has pretty consistently been in the 5th percentile for weight at all her check-ups, even thought she is now average height.

I don't blame you one bit for being concerned, that would freak me out too. Are you seeing a high risk doctor (MFM or peri) or just a regular ob? Personally, I would want a high risk doctor's opinion on that especially with your history.

I think some babies just go to their "true" size early on. DS kept getting bigger at every u/s (while Olivia got smaller, a lot smaller, and they tried to say it was still normal at first too, until it wasn't and then got worse). They weren't especially thrilled with DS being bigger and bigger (I think around 80th%ile) either since I had gestational diabetes, but he's been 90%ile for height and around 70-80%ile for weight his entire first year.

I don't have much experience with this because Mason was pretty much normal until 26 weeks when he stopped growing and then Noah was smaller all along, but still growing steadily so my mfm was never concerned (he is the right size for me and my hubby because we are not tall people). I think I would be a little concerned too. I might even ask the doctor for more growth scans just to make sure there is steady growth and no cause for concern. Try not to worry too much, but DO be hyper-vigilant and make sure your doctor takes your concerns seriously.

I'm sorry the numbers are unnerving for you. I don't have any experience with IUGR... just wanted to let ya know I'd be thinking of you and am hopeful it's just a normal trend for your lil' one. I know you'll be watching those numbers like a hawk and making sure your doctors do too. Your lil' one is in the best hands... yours!

With my son, he stopped growing at about 24 weeks and when he was delivered at 28w6d he weighed only 1lb 10oz. I also had pretty much no fluid or blood flow to him at that point so also a much more complex situation than with my daughter. Not to mention that my BP was through the roof, high protein, etc. With #2, my daughter, she was around 50th percentile the whole pregnancy until around 30 weeks. I think at 30 weeks she was around 30th percentile and by 32 weeks she was 20th percentile. At that point I was put on bedrest because my BP had also started to go up a little (nowhere near where it was with my son!). 34 weeks she was 15th percentile and by 36 weeks she was right at the 10th percentile and my MFM did an amnio and we went ahead and delivered. She weighed 4lbs 8oz, less than the estimated on ultrasound, and was completely healthy! I never did have protein (I actually had 0 protein in a 24 hr urine at 34 weeks!) or any other signs of pre-e besides my BP starting to creep up and the decreased growth, although blood flow to baby was always normal. We don't really know why DD's growth slowed, but in the end we were both healthy so it is totally possible to have slower growth and a healthy baby and mama in the end.

Hi! During my second pregnancy I had a similar experience with my daughter Maddalena. Though my uterine arteries flow was getting better after week 28 or 30 she started to decrease her size from the 50th percentile to the 20th or even somewhat lower. Due to my previous experience they weren't particularly concerned because of the size but they monitor very closely the cord flow to avoid reverse flow or similar. She was born pretty small at 37.3 weeks via scheduled c-section weighting 2.5 kilos. Now she is one, below average but on a normal percentile (30th I think) for weight and very healthy. In my opinion you may ask doctors to monitor uterine and umbelical flows to make sure the baby is not actually starved

Thank you all so much for chiming in on your experiences and opinions. It's good to know that this does happen without rapid pre-e, and it's really encouraging to hear stories of going to 36 weeks! A few of you mentioned monitoring blood flow. They did look at that (my OB and another doctor) and it looks normal. I reminded him that we had absent diastolic flow with my son, another reason to deliver, so he looked at it closely. Everything keeps coming up completely normal.

I'm trying not to stress, but I will be hyper-vigilant about this. I think since everything outside of the growth appears really positive, I'll see what the next measurement says. I'll be satisfied if we're at least maintaining.

And hopefully I pass my GD test. I find out tomorrow.

On a good note, the hospital called me today to ask if I'd be interested in having my son's picture(s) on the "miracle wall" in the NICU. They're going to take pictures of him at a beautiful park and I'll need to bring pictures of him at birth and growing up. I also need to write something brief about his story. It should all be done by my due date. I can't help but wonder what this pregnancy will turn out like, and if it might be encouraging to mention that Daniel's a big brother (especially if all turns out successfully). So my prego emotions got a work out today. I never thought I'd be doing this 3 years ago...

The Miracle Wall sounds amazing, that would make me super emotional and I am not pregnant My DS is headed to kindergarten in the fall and doing all the registration stuff has made me think back to the NICU when we worried about Mason every day and now it has been almost 5 years, I almost cried just driving by his school the other day I am so glad that besides some slowed growth, your pregnancy is going well. When my DD was born, DH and DS went into the NICU, we were at the same hospital, just to visit and it felt amazing to tell everyone that he had a little sister who was going home with us! It sounds like your doctors are taking great care of you...I will be watching for your updates and praying that you have a healthy few months ahead of you!